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Report  of  the  C 
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REPORT 

Of  the  Committee  on  Federal  Relations ,  proposing  amendments 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 


The  Committee  on  Federal  Relations  have,  according  to  or- 

2  der,  had  under  consideration  sundry  resolutions  to  them  re- 

3  ferred,  and  amendments  proposed  to  the  Federal  Constitu- 

4  tion,  and  beg  leave  to  report  the  following  amendments  to  be 
6  proposed  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States;  to  be 
6  appended  to  their  former  report: 

ARTICLE  XIII. 
Section  1.  In  all  the  present  territory  of  the  United  States, 

2  north  of  the  parallel  of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes 

3  of  north  latitude,  involuntary  servitude,  except  in  punish- 

4  ment  of  crime,  is  prohibited.     In  all  the  present  territory, 

5  south  of  that  line,  involuntary  servitude,  as  it  now  exists, 

6  shall  remain  and  shall  not  be  changed;  nor  shall  any  law  be 

7  passed  by  Congress  or  the  territorial  legislature  to  hinder  or 

8  prevent  the  taking  of  persons  held  to  service  or  labor,  from 

9  any  of  the  States  of  this  Union  to  said  territory;  nor  to  im- 


2 

10  pair  the  rights  arising  from  said  relation;  nor  shall  said  rights 

11  be  in  any  manner  affected  by  any  preexisting  law  of  Mexico; 

12  but  the  same  shall  be  subject  to  judicial  cognizance  in  the 

13  Federal  courts,  according  to  the  remedies  and  practice  of  the 

14  common  law.     When  any  territory,  north  or  south  of  said 

15  line,  within  such  boundary  as  Congress  may  prescribe,  shall 

16  contain  a  population  equal  to  that  required  for  a  member  of 

17  Congress,  it  shall,  if  its  form  of  government  be  republican, 

18  be  admitted  into  the  Union  on  an  equal  footing  with  the 

19  original  States,  with  or  without  involuntary  servitude,  as 

20  such  Constitution  of  the  State  may  provide.     In  all  territory 

21  which  may  hereafter  be  acquired  by  the  United  States,  invo- 

22  luntary  servitude  is  prohibited,  except  for  crime,  north  of  the 

23  latitude  of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes;  but  shall 

24  not  be  prohibited  by  Congress  or  any  territorial  legislature 

25  south  of  said  line. 

Section  2.  No  territory  shall  be  acquired  by  the  United 

2  States,  except  by  discovery  and  for  naval  and  commercial 

3  stations,  depots  and  transit  routes,  without  the  concurrence 

4  of  a  majority  of  all  the  senators  from  States  which  allow  in- 

5  voluntary  servitude,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  senators  from 

6  States  which  prohibit  that  relation;  nor  shall  territory  be  ac- 

7  quired  by  treaty,  unless  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  the  sena- 

8  tors  from  each  class  of  States  hereinbefore  mentioned  be  cast 


3  rT>0 

■ 

9  as  a  part  of  the  two -third  majority  necessary  to  the  ratifica- 
10  tion  of  such  treaty. 

Section  3.  Neither  the  Constitution,  nor  any  amendment 

2  thereof,  shall  be  construed  to  give  Congress  power  to  legis- 

3  late  concerning  involuntary  servitude  in  any  State  or  territory 

4  wherein  the  same  is  acknowledged  or  may  exist  by  the  laws 

5  thereof,  nor  to  interfere  with  or  abolish  the  same  in  the  Dis- 

6  trict  of  Columbia,  without  the  consent  of  Maryland  and  Vir- 

7  ginia,  and  without  the  consent  of  the  owners,  or  making  the 

8  owners,  who  do  not  consent,  just  compensation;    nor  the 

9  power  to  interfere  with  or  prohibit  representatives  and  others 

10  from  bringing  with  them  to  the  District  of  Columbia,  retain- 

11  ing  and  taking  away,  persons  so  held  to  labor  or  service,  nor 

12  the  power  to  interfere  with  or  abolish  involuntary  service  in 

13  places  under  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States 

14  within  those  States  and  territories  where  the  same  is  esta- 

15  blished  or  recognized;  nor  the  power  to  prohibit  the  removal 

16  or  transportation,  by  land  or  water,  of  persons  held  to  tabor, 

17  or  involuntary  service  in  any  State  or  territory  of  the  United 

18  States  to  any  other  State  or  territory  thereof,  where  it  is  esta- 

19  blished  or  recognized  by  law  or  usage;  and  the  right  during 

20  transportation,  by  sea  or  river,  of  touching  at  ports,  shores 

21  and  landings,  and  landing  in  case  of  need  shall  exist,  but 

22  not  the  right  of  sojourn  or  sale  in  any  State  or  territory 


4 

23  against  the  laws  thereof.     Nor  shall  Congress  have  power  to 

24  authorize  any  higher  rate  of  taxation  on  persons  held  to  labor 

25  or  service  than  on  land. 

26  The  bringing  into  the  District  of  Columbia  persons  held  to 

27  labor  or  service  for  sale,  or  placing  them  in  depots  to  be  after- 
2S  wards  transferred  to  other  places  for  sale  as  merchandise, 
29  is  prohibited. 

Section  4.  The  third  paragraph  of  the  second  section  of 

2  the  fourth  article  of  the  Constitution  shall  not  be  construed 

3  to  prevent  any  of  the  States,  by  appropriate  legislation,  and 

4  through  the  action  of  their  judicial  and  ministerial  officers, 

5  from  enforcing  the  delivery  of  fugitives  from  labor  to  the  per- 

6  son  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  is  due. 

Section  5.  The  importation  of  slaves,  coolies  or  persons 

2  held  to  service  or  labor,  into  the  United  States,  and  the  terri- 

3  tories  from  places  beyond  the  limits  thereof  is  hereby  forever 

4  prohibited. 

Section  6.  Congress  shall  provide  by  law  that  the  United 

2  States  shall  pay  to  the  owner  the  full  value  of  his  fugitive 

3  from  labor,  in  all  cases  where  the  marshal,  or  other  officer, 

4  whose  duty  it  was  to  arrest  such  fugitive,  was  prevented  from 

5  so  doing  by  intimidation  from  mobs  or  riotous  assemblages 

6  or  by  violence,  or  when,  after  arrest,  such  fugitive  was  res- 


5 

7  cued  by  like  intimidation  or  violence,  and  the  owner  thereby 

8  deprived  of  the  same. 

Section  7.  The  elective  franchise  and  the  right  to  hold  of- 

2  fice,  whether  federal  or  territorial,  shall  not  be  exercised  by 

3  persons  who  are  of  the  African  race. 

Section  8.  No  one  of  these  amendments,  nor  the  third 

2  paragraph  of  the  second  section  of  the  first  article  of  the  Con- 

3  stitution,  nor  the  third  paragraph  of  the  second  section  of 

4  the  fourth  article  thereof,  shall  be  amended  or  abolished  with- 

5  out  the  consent  of  all  the  States. 


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